Critical Week: I feel pretty

This is the final week before my first ballots are due in this year's awards cycle. I vote in three sets of film awards - London Critics, The Dorian Awards, Online Critics - and it can be tricky to make sure I'm voting for the right movie that's eligible for the right award. Even more difficult is seeing movies that are major contenders when the distributors simply refuse to show them to us. And I still have gaps among this year's titles (haven't yet had a chance to see Licorice Pizza or Don't Look Up, for example). 

BEST OUT THIS WEEK:
Lamb • Being the Ricardos
West Side Story • I Am Syd Stone
ALL REVIEWS >

But I did catch up with three big ones this week: Steven Spielberg's dazzling remake of West Side Story is worth catching on the biggest screen possible, with its explosion of fantastic dance choreography, iconic songs and a hugely moving story. Guillermo del Toro's remake of Nightmare Alley has a powerhouse cast (including Bradley Cooper, Cate Blanchett, Toni Collette and Rooney Mara) and is a hyper-stylish mystery noir. And Peter Dinklage has the title role in a musical remake of Cyrano, spectacularly directed by Joe Wright with a strong emotional kick.

Slightly more adventurous films include Todd Stephens' Swan Song, which stars Udo Kier as a retired stylist who rediscovers his fabulous self; the creepy and blackly witty Icelandic drama Lamb, starring Noomi Rapace; the ambitious, provocative and rather scattershot journalism comedy-drama France, starring Lea Seydoux; and the sensitive Swiss-Turkish drama Beyto. I also had Peter Duncan's riotously entertaining filmed pantomime Cinderella and another excellent collection of shorts in The French Boys 2.

Over the next week, I'll continue to catch up with movies big and small, including Tom Holland in Spider-Man: No Way Home, Harris Dickinson in The King's Man, Mahershala Ali in another movie called Swan Song, Tate Donovan in Wild About Harry, the Belgian drama Lola and the Sea, the Turkish drama Not Knowing and the animated adventure Summit of the Gods.